Creating "repeat" opportunity for deaf child to pick language

A recent vacation to Thailand taught her lot of new words and experiences 

   
       Revisiting is an important tool for the children with hearing and speech delay disabilities. The revisiting helps them go back to the time the event occurred. Its a tool that helps them reinforce what they have been through earlier. The language associated would help them recall the event and that's only possible through using the vocabulary and expressions appropriate for that event. A normal child learns this normally as s/he keeps hearing this through the normal hearing. The repetition is happening naturally since parents and other friends around are talking about it, its falling on the ears and subconsciously the brain is "hearing" it. While the child is playing around , he still "hears' it. With a child with hearing aids, its limiting and most times you have to draw the attention towards it. The HA could ignore it due to various limitations which we are aware of. Hence consciously the recalling is done.
      I have done this very regularly and consciously when she was little. The brain gets automatically trained to do this. It was so normal for us to constantly talk about things happening around us. We never faced the dearth of subjects and discussions. Never got bored as we made it interesting. I learnt from Prisha as I started to learn from her point of view rather than enforce my ideas on her , limiting her creativity. We discussed the event many times hence "revisiting". The steps that work are simple.
1. I foresee and upcoming event.
2. I start to tell her about it using new words and vocabulary associated with it,
3.Start discussing and clearing her doubts.
4. ask her to repeat the order and encourage the new words, repeat if needed.
5. At the event start talking about it again. Use those new words again so its fixed in her brain.
6. Use more language associated with it. It may mean I am away from the crowd and family or friends but then its my priority.
7. Once she is settled with it, she goes around experiencing and fixing all that we discussed in real time. I am still around to help her, giving her priority over everything else.
8. Once event is done, we start to discuss again and see if we are using those words and new vocabulary and expressions.
9. See how much we are progressing on it, make changes or add what is forgotten or slipped.
10. Go and relate to all those who are around at home. Mindfully keep a watch on your child to see if s/he is using the words and expressions you have used earlier.
11. Without making it obvious add your bits to the conversation where the words and important parts are missing.
12. Correct the language, sentence structure, pronunciation, etc.
13. Ask them to create visuals of the event. Can be in a form drawing, digital medium, 3D artform, waste material recycling or even a song.
14. Display and show around your prized trophy.
15. Few days later, recall the event again and see if the words and tit bits of those are in memory still.
16. Most important don't get too busy for your child. If you dont have time for them , they cannot have language just from out of the air. Unless as a parent you are commited don't expect miracles.
      I hope these pointers will help you help your child. Please know that its a life style and you have to keep working on it. It seems hard and isolating but its not. If done well, you can balance your lifestyle with this work. When you see your child coming back with better language with ease and happy smiles, all this effort shall look small. I often talk to parents and demonstrate how I did it. Giving plenty of examples and ways of making it as a part of everyday life. In few years it becomes a way of life and easy to manage. talk about school, homework, birthday parties, weddings, funeral, vacations and everything else. Don't get disheartened. It sounds a lot of work but it isn't if you do it in the right spirit. I hope this is helpful. I am open to feedback and any help needed to understand this. This helped us immensely and I hope it helps you all too.

Creating "repeat" opportunity for deaf child to pick language

A recent vacation to Thailand taught her lot of new words and experiences 

   
       Revisiting is an important tool for the children with hearing and speech delay disabilities. The revisiting helps them go back to the time the event occurred. Its a tool that helps them reinforce what they have been through earlier. The language associated would help them recall the event and that's only possible through using the vocabulary and expressions appropriate for that event. A normal child learns this normally as s/he keeps hearing this through the normal hearing. The repetition is happening naturally since parents and other friends around are talking about it, its falling on the ears and subconsciously the brain is "hearing" it. While the child is playing around , he still "hears' it. With a child with hearing aids, its limiting and most times you have to draw the attention towards it. The HA could ignore it due to various limitations which we are aware of. Hence consciously the recalling is done.
      I have done this very regularly and consciously when she was little. The brain gets automatically trained to do this. It was so normal for us to constantly talk about things happening around us. We never faced the dearth of subjects and discussions. Never got bored as we made it interesting. I learnt from Prisha as I started to learn from her point of view rather than enforce my ideas on her , limiting her creativity. We discussed the event many times hence "revisiting". The steps that work are simple.
1. I foresee and upcoming event.
2. I start to tell her about it using new words and vocabulary associated with it,
3.Start discussing and clearing her doubts.
4. ask her to repeat the order and encourage the new words, repeat if needed.
5. At the event start talking about it again. Use those new words again so its fixed in her brain.
6. Use more language associated with it. It may mean I am away from the crowd and family or friends but then its my priority.
7. Once she is settled with it, she goes around experiencing and fixing all that we discussed in real time. I am still around to help her, giving her priority over everything else.
8. Once event is done, we start to discuss again and see if we are using those words and new vocabulary and expressions.
9. See how much we are progressing on it, make changes or add what is forgotten or slipped.
10. Go and relate to all those who are around at home. Mindfully keep a watch on your child to see if s/he is using the words and expressions you have used earlier.
11. Without making it obvious add your bits to the conversation where the words and important parts are missing.
12. Correct the language, sentence structure, pronunciation, etc.
13. Ask them to create visuals of the event. Can be in a form drawing, digital medium, 3D artform, waste material recycling or even a song.
14. Display and show around your prized trophy.
15. Few days later, recall the event again and see if the words and tit bits of those are in memory still.
16. Most important don't get too busy for your child. If you dont have time for them , they cannot have language just from out of the air. Unless as a parent you are commited don't expect miracles.
      I hope these pointers will help you help your child. Please know that its a life style and you have to keep working on it. It seems hard and isolating but its not. If done well, you can balance your lifestyle with this work. When you see your child coming back with better language with ease and happy smiles, all this effort shall look small. I often talk to parents and demonstrate how I did it. Giving plenty of examples and ways of making it as a part of everyday life. In few years it becomes a way of life and easy to manage. talk about school, homework, birthday parties, weddings, funeral, vacations and everything else. Don't get disheartened. It sounds a lot of work but it isn't if you do it in the right spirit. I hope this is helpful. I am open to feedback and any help needed to understand this. This helped us immensely and I hope it helps you all too.

Signs and spoken language

Conflicts of a deaf person who had so much to choose from. Sometimes decisions are tough. We are personally happy with choosing spoken over signs as she sings and dances, listens to music and speaks on phone too.

http://audio-accessibility.com/news/2016/09/deaf-education-school-deaf-regular-school/

Small difference in accent

Prisha has just made out a small difference in a word. How we think it's not possible with the hearing impaired. I felt thrilled and she found it so amusing and couldn't stop laughing ! She is my little wonder.Water is that word that makes her giggle. Small discoveries.

Good job Prisha !!

Little mind at work

project that she let go, a bridge !!

Thinking and working.

    This week has been pretty rewarding as far as school goes. I have been just been watchful and waited to see how Prisha gets used to the new teacher and understands her ways. This teacher is very experienced and very systematic. She even watches and knows each child well. So when I went to ask her she had some good things to say. She said Prisha has been a very good observer and is very sincere.She has the need to learn and gave all her attention which she found very good. She is cooperative and made sure she understood what was being done in the class. She found her book of stories that she had made very interesting and said that it would be nice if she made a second book. So now the next 10 days we may do that. She also said that her enthusiasm was commendable.
       She said we need to now work on her to be able to express herself better. She needs to read and we need to read advanced book with her and then she should tell the stories in her own words. So now we are going to work on that.
      She said she has one of the best hand writings in the class and had told her to take time off from hand writing practice which she denied as she loves to write. They also had a puppet presentation where they had to make a small conversational story with the hand puppet. The teacher said, Prisha stood out in her class and she was fantastic. She was loud, clear and very good with the interaction of her various puppets. She enacted her favorite theme, student teacher conversation with a song thrown in. We are glad that she has upped in many things and some we need to work on.
      A friend counselor had come in to meet the special needs department here. She was told that the last year they had a difficult case which they were sure could not make it through the year. It was us they were talking about. When she said she knew it was us, they said, they were very happy with her progress and her graph of learning is very steep. they love Prisha's enthusiasm and the spirit that she has. She took correction as many times and was never down on spirits.Her enthusiasm rubs on people around her. they said they found us as parents very enthusiastic and supported well without being interfering and contradicting. and so They are happy to have us at school. for us it was a happy moment as last year we nearly thought we made a mistake by moving here.
      Another thing I am proud of and the teacher is happy with was Prisha's heart to let go of their class project which they did in twos. Her friend wanted to take it home, disheartened and heart broken she was, but she let her partner take it home.
    Am now just hoping that she learns and grows from strength to strength. Hoping this year too sees her at a totally different level. We have seen her math too and she seems to be doing good with numbers too. So keeping fingers crossed and socks all pulled up.  

A callous audiologist

       Last week Mrs. Hudlikar got a case which actually made me so miserable that I literally wanted to fly down to India and question the lady audiologist. It is a simple case where she wanted to just make money out her profession without really bothering about the child and the family who have got so severely affected by this.
       Without naming , I want to share this experience and hope that anyone who reads this could understand that they need to know how they can be wronged and audiologist who make this as a money making profession, read it and maybe realize the sin they commit towards this very sensitive issue.
     The parents of this child realized the child was deaf and went to this particular audiologist in Pune, India seeking help. Hearing aids were tested and soon as usual she started to ask the family to go in for cochlear implant as they were very effective and the child would talk.The desperate parents in the need to get the best for their child went in for CI . As usual not much information was given and the parents, from a simple back ground, took it on face value that their little boy would chatter with this miraculous surgery. Then the child was started on speech therapy 4 times a week and the family was paying 250 Rs per time ,that is 1000 Rs a week !!!! The family kept waiting for years that some day the child would talk . This family with limited means sold their home to make this dream a reality for the child. Soon the family started to question the audiologist about the child not talking. So her next reaction was, the child has a faulty auditory nerves and so the child is not benefiting with the CI!! When she did all the testing, was she not aware of the condition? She gave more reasons which were absolutely rubbish but the simple couple ,not educated enough, took it as their fate. She then told them they have to accept it as their fate that their child would never talk. So her next suggestion ( am amazed ) was, label all your things at home , at least the child would learn to read ! But read what?? Bed, glass, TV, etc......how would it help? Would the child be able to put his thoughts accross with these mindless names? We need to speak full sentences to convey our thoughts.And what about speaking? Just with those labels, can the child talk? One takes years of practice to learn a language and speak it well.How does she expect that to happen to this child.Does she not have a conscious? How does she go to sleep having done so much harm, year after year?
       This lady was apprached by a parent when he saw the 7 year old had CI but could not speak.he gave her Mrs.Hudlikar's number.The hopeful mother went running to her, crying and begging her to help her little son speak. Ma'am's heart is so large , she just cannot refuse despite the fact she is getting older and some days finds it difficult. The lady was ready to do anything to help her son.What hurt her more, almost like a dagger in her heart, was that all the hearing  impaired kids, with what ever loss, was talking and going to normal school. She feels the pain and so does ma'am and we hope with so much loss of time and damage done, the child can still maybe learn to talk.It does get difficult as the child gets older, but each mother wants that her deaf child should be able to talk like a normal child, hear her voice and integrate into the world.
    I wish these audiologists were penelized or were answerable to someone.The parents are too busy trying to sort out their life and cannot run around fighting the case in the court. But is there no way that the hearing aid companies or CI companies come back to check what the response of the people.Why should not they be answeable to anyone? The family sold off everything just to help the child. But he is still speechless. that just shows , despite the best aid......hearing aid or CI, the most vital clue to the child talking is not just any speech therapy, but effective speech therapy.I wish more and more people do that. the main problem why more stress is not laid on speech therapy is as there is not too much money in it. The audiologist find it easier to make more money seeling aids and CI than using effective speech therapy. I wish they turned more human and did not weight everything in terms of money. More power to Mrs. Hudlikar...is my only prayer to the Almighty !!
  

Mrs Alaka Hudlikar's article on the eve of "World Deaf day".

Lighting up many lives by giving speech to the deaf

Article in the newspaper about how deaf kids can learn to speak and lead very normal lives. This little child is such an example.Kudos to her and her ways as she has brought sounds and happiness in many lives in the last 40 odd years.we love you ma'am, keep being our guardian angel.

http://epaper.dnaindia.com/newsview.aspx?eddate=09/28/2011&pageno=4&edition=40&prntid=150565&bxid=30884646&pgno=4

http://epaper.dnaindia.com/newsview.aspx?eddate=09/28/2011&pageno=4&edition=40&prntid=150565&bxid=30886696&pgno=4

Back to school night

Staff reads to the kids !

Book buddies !

      Last evening was the "back to school night" for Prisha. We were invited to get a peek into the new school year.The evening was the speech by the school director, the new principal and then the Parent volunteer coordinator.We were asked to go around the school to check out the major changes ,new building and all the latest additions. It was really lovely to see the school....bigger and better.
    Then we went in to meet the class teacher and were asked to open up our child's drawer and pull out the work to see what they have been doing. there was a class map which we have to look and then find out from there where our child sits in the class. I saw parents struggling and so skeptically looked at Prisha's map. A mum peeped into mine and exclaimed that our map was really great. I looked at hers and realised how accurately Prisha had drawn her entire class room with the white board,tables,sinks.....everything was so well made that within seconds we knew where she sits. It felt really nice. We looked at her work and felt good as her special educator Mrs.K had told me that she has seen great detailing in Prisha's work after the summer break.I was also happy to see her write ups.
     Then Mrs. O started to give a little talk about her plans for the year.What made me most happy is that she is friendly, kids love her, she has been teaching for many many years and is very systematic and likes a certain style which is great where the kids needs more structured teaching and approach.She was talking about how reading is the most important thing. She had various people come over to the class and read to the kids which included buddies,principal,the nurse and even the music teacher.They all read out the Black lagoon stories.The kids bring back a book daily to read and she said even if the kids brought home a simple book, it should be encouraged as it brought them confidence.So we look forward to more power for Prisha and hoping this year is going to be great for her learning.

Mind map and blogging

      Prisha Has been working on her vocabulary and grammar last 3 weeks, since we are back.To recall her experiences of her recent trip to India, I decided to let her recall them by making a mind map.Normally we would try to sequence the events one by one and I needed to help . I felt somewhere  she was missing the spontaneity of it all ,and at times became a chore. Since she is now a little blogger herself, I thought I should tell her to make a mind map and asked her to put all the things she could remember. I was surprised at things she remembered and I had forgotten.
        I then asked her to sequence them and make it into a write up.Here and there I needed to remind  her of events ,but I think she did a great job.It suddenly was an easy job ! Asked her to type it all out and added some pictures for her to put the visual with the writing to have a lovely post.The pictures too were clicked by her .I gave her the camera for her to click about things she wanted to write.I am glad as we now have her eagerly wanting to click and talk about it.Asked my family and close friends to read and leave a bit of their comments which would encourage her.She is now actively checking her comments each morning and writing back.
      This blog for her came as an idea to excite her. Kids love to see their results and people appreciating too.On her 7th b'day I had gifted her a diary to write all her thoughts and special events.She already has the camera to click (thank God for digital ones !!!! Can click without worry!) I started to notice that some days she found it a chore to write in her diary.So to excite her and also to make a bigger connection ,thought of opening a blog for her. She loved the idea ! The visual with her experience all on internet,(welcome to the world of internet) something she can show anyone anywhere across the world. She is as of now a happy writer. This way I would have a good record of her journey in her words,with all her mistakes.We can see her progress. As of now I am keeping my fingers crossed that she would continue this journey,Wishing her every success.Her blog address:-

http://prishasmusings.blogspot.com/

Time to question

http://epaper.dnaindia.com/newsview.aspx?eddate=06/16/2011&pageno=2&edition=40&prntid=142509&bxid=35159698&pgno=2

I came across this article and was had a few questions to ask about its effectiveness. Am I justified in my thoughts and questions? I don't know, but I do think I am.Are these points valid? I have been to this institute too to see their work,but I was not satisfied with the results and hence I stayed away from it and found my answers with Mrs.Hudlikar. My only concern and the reason to write about it is to make people aware and "ask questions" before just rushing.I did and so I stand to benefit. The proof of the pudding is in its eating, they say and so I feel parents should have been writing in or putting in their word to say if this method works.In the past if the deaf kids have been successfully talking and leading normal lives under normal conditions by their methods, why is there no testimonials and interviews by them ? Normal kids do not get coaching to go to grade 1, so why these kids?Teach them to speak, they would excel in thier study too, as Mrs.Hudlika's kids show.One can speak to any mother, they would say it,"she is TOUGH BUT her work gives 100% results"!
      Its not the fault of the papers, its the fault of the people who give inadequate information.How would they know,unless the correct information is given. I wish the journalist could go beyond and find more about this subject.
   This is my letter to the newspaper correspondent.

Sir,
This is with reference to the news article in the DNA Pune on 16th June'11 about work being done for hearing impaired children.

http://www.dnaindia.com/mumbai/report_pune-ngo-creates-level-playing-field-for-hearing-impaired-kids_1555633

I am mother of a deaf child too and for me the following are the issues with this method-
1.Pre-primery age kids have to be exposed to normal atmosphere which is not possible at special schools as only teachers are talking.
2.I would take it more seriously if parents of such kids, if they benefited,spoke about it and informed if this helped them.
3.Language is for living, one does not learn language to go to school but learns to use it in daily life.Not everyone wants to go to school , but all do want to earn a living, for that language is needed.
4.Testimonials by parents and speaking kids should be shown to show the result of such a programme.
5.No mention of counselling for distressed mothers is mentioned.A disturbed mother cannot work on a deaf child.0-1 yr old kids need mothers and without counselling they cannot help their kids.
    I also read the paper in which it was mentioned they are training 12th pass students to work on these kids.I mention my concerns on this-
1.Are the 12th std youths mature and intellectually and mentally stable to help mothers who may be even suicidal and kids too?
2.Are these young people choosing the field as they are keen to work on the deaf kids or are choosing to come here as they did not qualify anywhere else.
3.Is 1-2 year course sufficient to understand and study the intricate method of this very difficult field?By doing so, one is demeaning the study done by experts in this filed for years.
4.With exposure of only teachers talking,what effect does the kids have on them? They have to produce that very normal atmosphere for them to be exposed to language, would it be possible?
You have yourself printed the success stories of Chitrali,Priya and Ashwiwni,they have grown in a normal atmosphere, normal school with no exemptions, how do you explain the difference between the two methods?
  With such poor service, you think the kids would ever develop normal development in language?No wonder very few get speech and language.Learning speech and language has no connection with schooling,it is to prepare the kids for life.I am mum to a deaf kid, now moved to Germany.Without any such coaching, just with normal treatment with extensive and effective speech therapy, my daughter goes to a normal international school here.Thanks to "no exemptions" and letting her learn with normal kids and good input, she is geared to face life.I blog on this subject and have seen how AVT (auditory verbal therapy) helps if a proper method is worked on, which requires years of hard work and study and input of a great ,educated and dedicated teacher.Kindly do not demean this very important field as it requires a lot of research to put the right aspect.We are responsible to the society who would read it and follow it.So put all the facts and facets of the subject, that would be an effective article.
Thank you,
Ruchi Goyal.

Circus Time

     Back here in Germany, focus for the next 6 weeks of holidays here is to make her more confident with language and experiences. So to do that our job is to find things to make herself interested in picking up as much grammar,vocabulary,new words and more exposure to various things available here.We have friends who lent us books, puzzles and we have bought her UNO,scrabble and cards to play with. She got some grammar books and math work books too from her aunt and she loves filling them up.Some she is confident with and so helps her to feel she knows and so enjoys the reinforcement and also new grammar lessons to aid her growth in the language.Some days it frustrates me to see her forgetting the things she has learnt. But then, its a process I have to carry on with ,slow steady and with patience,after all a tough path one chooses is not easy to walk on.
    So this week end we took her to see the circus which was in our town.I remember seeing it as a kid and just loved it.She has never seen it and it was something I was sure she would enjoy.So to start at home, I showed her some videos on the net (big help !!),gave her all the new words she would come across.We made a little talk about this new experience.
    I started with taking tickets and then made her aware of the things around her in the tent. I put her on my lap so that she could hear more clearly as the music and the anchor's voice on the microphone was too loud for her and interfered with her listening. She squealed with joy at the pony and the horse running and doing tricks,loved the acrobats, jugglers ,the lovely looking lady on the rope, who walked effortlessly on it. She was so upset when the show came to and end.We then rushed out and clicked some pictures of the animals,she really wanted to take the little pony home.
     Back home, she wrote down her experience in her little diary and new words like entertainment,performer,acrobats,gymnasts,jugglers,arena,etc. She is very thrilled about the circus and we soon have to take her to one more. For now she is happy learning new words and playing scrabble.

More language inputs

    These days we are helping Prisha learn the nuances of language.Earlier on we had been heping on with as much of speech, though correction is always on.But she has been mixing around with 3rd person and mixes a lot of tenses.So now thanks to her speech therapist,we are now working on correcting the grammar. We have started with present tense, pronouns and past tense.She specially needs help with 3rd person.Fortunately she loves going to the therapy classes and she is picking up quickly.We are coordinating with the speech therapist and she agrees with our method back home.She asked for more prescriptions for Prisha (6 prescriptions of 10 classes are given then 3 months of break before next 6x10 classes) and I had a word with the doctor and she said there is no limit to the number of prescriptions we could get from them.Any break in therapy would not be good for her at this point..In her request form she has mentioned some good things for Prisha.She mentioned that Prisha is very motivated to learn, concentrates well and takes corrections very well.On the down side, she needs articulation correction and correction of grammar and does mix up a few consonants. But we all are working hard.Her class teacher is happy with her progress and does not feel the need to to really specify any problem areas.Life does seem a bit at calm but we do have rush rush of school, therapy 2 times a week after school and 2 after school activity 2 times a week.She does get tired,but the spirited girl that she is , gives us maximum support.Reading too is on.these days she is also writing stories.The therapist gives us some pictures which she needs to put in a sequence and then write the story it tells.Most of these stories are comic and she does need help on developing funny language and noticing the expressions in the pictures.Work hard!!!

More and more

       Since Prisha has a new system to follow in school , very different from what she did  back in India, we decided to help her at home to focus on THINKING. The teachers are more focused about the HOWs and the WHYs and so she needs to think of those and then put her answers in language. Hmmmmm ......a lot for her since she did get ignored a lot by me this year with all my German exams and then the relocation and associated jobs that came with it.She does get stuck at places, 1) she is trying to understand what the teacher is saying along with the accent 2) she is trying to put into words into place as she does get overwhelmed.She knows why 5 is bigger than 2 but why and how she needs to think and she just stops doing that as no one in India asked this in school.I too was a bit overwhelmed the other day and thought about it a lot. Well , came to the conclusion, she needs more language input from me. The day to day language is there but that is never enough. Somewhere when we see the kid is getting her way around things and is able to communicate in day to day activities, we to get a bit chilled out , not realizing that with her the input has to be constant and continuous. As she has just started her 1st grade and she needs to increase her vocabulary and understand things and new words which only come to her with constant use. In daily life we do not come across too many situations and activities and so to do that , I need to bring those situations to her through the world of BOOKS.Beg, borrow steal!!
        So here we go! A book daily from her class teacher's library, where the stories are very simple and few sentences which by the end of one reading , she is able to read by herself. We focus on new words, concepts and I associate them with her daily life or give examples from our environment to make her really GET IT.Then 2 times in 9 days she gets to pick her 2 books from the library, the stories are more abstract according to me, as she sees the color of the book and gets them home , more than the content. And no points for guessing the color.....PINK!!! I am surprised at HOW do all girls like PINK!!! Then every week end we get to pick up at least 10 books and CDs from the school library , but I am realistic, we borrow 2.
          So we read to her as much as we can.I am trying to use various new words and bring them into our daily use. I am planning on putting up a big poster on the fridge and add our daily new words on it, so we can use it more often.....more a reminder to this lazy mum.I am actually getting a little tired with the hectic pick up and drop to school.But we need to do what we need to do! She is joining 2 after school activities, ballet and story telling. The teacher there was very helpful as he said he knows it would help Prisha and so would give her preference!! Thank you Mr. Owen for that.Though she loves the way I tell stories, I am keen she joins that so she would have more exposure to the accent and the way stories they tell them.I wish though, he was a bit louder.but I am sure we would find a way around it. She LOOOVVVES ballet!! She loves the dress and the feminine moves and the feeling of being as pretty as the princess.O, she loves it and so do I love seeing her trying to copy her teacher.I picked up a CD on ballet from school this week end and my God , has she ever seen a CD so many times!! She has just ben practicing the moves and since it is an inter active CD, I am happy when she responds to the teacher.So she is understanding what is being spoken on TV.She is also watching the school website where there is a site for kids to practice Math and English in a fun way. So we are all looking at things positively and hoping that this learning experience is going to do lots for her.Though at times I do get a bit low thinking how I would do it, but then this is a one way tunnel.I want to do it with full spirits and do it to the best of my ability and make my little girl a very happy and prosperous young woman.

Prisha makes phone conversation

    Yesterday I was in conversation with parents who happen to discover that the child they adopted a month ago was hearing impaired.The conversation lasted about 2 hours over Skype call and since it was on loudspeaker and video, the conversation was audible to all in the house.Prisha was busy with her jobs and I thought she was not aware of what was happening.After about an hour and half, she told her dad "Dad ask mumma to stop talking, she talks so much".I found it really amusing.

 Phone made from razor packaging

     The conversation was all about this new development and so is normally very draining as far as my energy is concerned.It does drain me out emotionally as you are trying your best to share knowledge and give the best guidance to the family so they do not fall into traps of wrong doctors who have their materialistic gains in mind.The afternoon saw us connecting with another friend whose cochlear implant has major issues due to being wrongly implanted and now depends more on the other ear which works on hearing aids.Fortunately my friend was very eager to help the new parent as they live in the same city.And we exchanged notes on how best to get her the best help possible.the phone played such an important part the whole day that I did not realize that though Prisha looked totally lost in her own world ,,she must be listening to my talks as the sounds are falling on her ears and she is very auditorily trained.
     Since I was feeling a bit claustrophobic being at home all day on the sofa, we decided to go out for a drive and see a bit more of the country side in the area we live.As we set out, I was enjoying the nice cool breeze, a bit cloudy sky,( I love it as India is mostly sunny except the monsoons 2-3 months a year), the empty roads on a sunday evening and the drive, I heard Prisha at the back pick up her play phone made from another waste packaging. She started to keep chatting while my husband and I kept our conversation going ,when suddenly her conversation caught me and we stopped talking. She was talking to her friend named "Simiya" ,a name she invented on her own and was busy taking about her.She asked about her baby and her husband and was making such a REAL conversation that we were out of our wits. I really wished I had my handycam.Then she realised we stopped talking and she said," mumma, I am talking to my friend Simiya, her husband's name is Sigga and the baby's name is Saphiya". I was amazed at her new names that she had invented.We ignored her as we wanted to hear more of it, while we giggled behind our seats.She then called up another friend and said,"Hi, how are you, Ooooo, you are getting married, wow, then you will get a baby!!"and she went on.My God!! We were holding our tummy and laughing at her real conversation.Then after a bit more of chatting, she fixed a date with her friend to meet her at home as it was her birthday party in the evening.She is not too fond of going out for a drive, I have realized and is mostly then busy with her role plays and her phones or she sleeps off. Then started her rants of wanting to go home as she had to dress up to go to the birthday party. When I said we were far from home, she said,"I am sleeping and you wake me up when we reach home and remind me I have to talk to Simiya as we are late for the party" .We settled on this note and she dozed off.The moment I reached home and I woke her up, she said "Oh yes, I have to talk to Simiya". I was so amazed at the whole chain of event.She was conversing like us, introducing the way I was introducing my family to them and making up her own situations and conversations around family, friend and baby sleeping and wedding etc.
       I thought about it later and realized the importance of her being so auditorily trained. She was so tuned to sounds around her with all kinds of background sounds included, as in India there is plenty of noise in the city, that she is used to picking up voices over noises involuntarily. I thought that while I chat away on phone etc, she may be ignoring the sounds as it is natural for the hearing impaired to ignore sounds and talks around them.A lot of such people are used to talking only when spoken too and in the process miss out on what is happening around them.They miss the talks between other friends, or people talking together as they find it hard to concentrate on others' conversation.But since she is auditorily trained, she pays attention to sounds.As the sounds fall on her ears while she does her things, her brain is retaining the happenings around her and she reproduces similar things later.As the sounds fall on her ears, she keeps herself abreast to things happening around.I am so glad as this brings her closer to normalcy and we feel happy that with great speech therapy , we are able to lead quite a normal lives ourselves.Many people tell me this that she is so normal with her interaction that they feel she is not hearing impaired.I thank God and my loving speech therapist Alaka Hudlikar, who has made this so possible.And now this is so close to my heart, that anyone who is in a situation like this, I am all out to help them out.